Inventory and configuration files

Question 1

Default inventory location

Answer 1

Default: /etc/ansible/hosts
Specified by cli: ansible -i
Can be set in ansible.cfg

Question 2

Static vs Dynamic

Answer 2

Static:
-ini or yaml
- esy to manage for static config
Dynamic:
-executable (bash, python script etc
-script returns json containing inventory information
-good for use with cloud resources when sudden changes

Question 3

Vars

Answer 3

Ansible recommends that vars not to be defined in inventory files:

• should be stored in yaml files located relative to inventory file
• group_vars dir
• host_vars dir

Question 4

Conf files which are typically used for each project

Answer 4

ansible.cfg in project dir:
[defaults]
inventory = hosts.yaml
remote_user = ansible
host_key_checking = false
forks = 5
[privilege_escalation]
become = true
become_method = sudo
become_user = root
become_ask_pass = false

Question 5

Setup ansible user to be not asked for password while sudo

Answer 5

sudo visudo to update /etc/sudoers file

ansible ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL

Question 6

Typical yaml static inventory

Answer 6

---
all:
hosts:
  children:
    media:
      hosts:
        media1:
        media2:
    webservers:
      hosts:
         10.0.1.1:
         10.0.1.2:

…

Question 7

Show which conf file will be used

Answer 7

ansible –version

Question 8

Show list of hosts

Answer 8

ansible all -i inventory/hosts.yaml –list-hosts

Question 9

Create custom facts in facts.d dir

Answer 9

mkdir -p /etc/ansible/facts.d on a slave node- node1
vim /etc/ansible/facs.d/pref.fact
[server]
software=adobe
[params]
adobe_v=1.7.1

on a control node run:
ansible node1 -m setup -a “filter=ansible_local”

Question 10

Possible location of conf files

Answer 10

ANSIBLE_CONFIG (conf variable)
ansible.cfg (current dir)
~/.ansible.cfg (in home dir)
/etc/ansible/ansible.cfg

Question 11

ansible-config options

Answer 11

1. ansible-config list -Print config options
2. ansible-config dump -dumps config
3. ansible-config view -view config file

Question 12

Useful params in ansible.cfg

Answer 12

[defaults]
inventory=inventory
roles_path=/home/ansible/.ansible/roles
forks = 10
remote_user = ansible
host_key_checking = False
log_path = /my/project/ansible-errors.log

[priviledge_escalation]
become = yes
become_method = sudo
become_user = root